Sicilia's Kisses

“I was also in the Caravan in Ciudad Juarez, I went to support myself and my family”

By Rene Torres BejaranoLetter to the Critics of Hugs and Kisses

August 22, 2011

Why all the fuss about one kiss? Javier Sicilia has the right to kiss whomever he damn well pleases. To each his own.

We are not “worshiping” Sicilia or putting him in a “privileged status” (from these bullshit privileges, please free me God); we are only walking with him in his pain. I was in the caravan of Ciudad Juarez, too, but not to help or “worship” Javier Sicilia; I went to help myself and my family – perhaps in this way to avoid, if I were to have a pain like that that plagues Sicilia, if I walked from the beach to the mountain to find someone to soothe my pain – do they not realize the pain of the people we encountered on the way? What would not be possible for a mother or father who was looking for their kidnapped child or possibly sent to a horrible end? I too went with the caravan to see if I could personally help the search for Peace with Justice and Dignity for our country (and take advantage of the momentum that this respected poet and social activist could and can give to this movement). I don’t give a fuck about his supposed defects or habits or inclinations, and I’m not here to tell him he shouldn’t kiss Beltranes but should say yes to Calderon, or not kiss the prosecutor, but to Vazquez Mota – yeah, well, I might do it myself. Kiss whomever you damn well please!

We can criticize all this, but if we tally it up, Sicilia has turned Calderon’s people into a lineup of groveling suspects and obligated him to make fools of them in the public eye, and obligated, also the stupid deputies and senators of all the parties to ask for forgiveness from the victims and to promise to do something to resolve the problems that confront us, and still, they come like idiots begging to continue the dialogue. Someone once said that, “Paris loves a multitude.” I would say that, in the Castillo de Chapultepec, they love a filthy robe.

Why aren’t the deputies going to comply, is it because they’re a bunch of assholes? Why is that goddamn Calderon worth nothing? Yeah, and what does that have to do with Sicilia and his love life? What are we waiting for, that all we are is spectators waiting to see what the fuck they’re doing? Neither Calderon, nor the congress, nor the Army, nor the Marines, nor Beltrones, nor the Prosecutor , or Pena Nieto, nor Sicilia, not even Andrés Manuel Lòpez Obrador – if they don’t revolt – none of them are going to help us with our problems. It’s very comfortable to “worship” or “put in a privileged position” someone and calmly wait until this “savior” or “privileged one” resolves our problems. Ahhh! But watch out because they’re kissing everybody out here! And WITH NO TONGUE! Ugh!

Javier Sicilia has his own worth, and not for his pastimes that we criticize him for. In his stubborn mind are concepts more profound than those that much of us imagine – among others, the thoughts of people like Ghandi, Ivan Illich, Bishop Medez Arceo, Samuel Ruiz, etc, etc. (and that has nothing to do with with the “pervert” Rivera, Onesimo, Maciel, and on and on). and even though it also gives me fits to see him hugging Beltrones, and the sniveling of Calderon, I do not think this is the main thrust of his strategy – I’ll just say, like my namesake Descartes said (when he was playing cards) – “I would pay to see it!”